The invention relates to a method for producing personalized printed products, for which respectively at least one individually printed sheet is combined with a number of conventionally printed sheets to form a joint printed product. Information for producing the printed products is transmitted for this by a database to a control unit. The invention furthermore relates to a corresponding apparatus comprising a database with therein stored information for producing the printed products, a gathering device for the printed sheets, a feeding device for transporting the at least one individually printed sheet to the gathering device, several separating out and feeding devices for separating out conventionally printed sheets from stacks and feeding the several separated out, conventionally printed sheets to the gathering device, a binding device for the printed products composed of the gathered printed sheets, as well as a control unit. A binding device of this type can be embodied, for example, as a stitching device or an adhesive binder.
German patent document DE19512501 A1 discloses a method of this type and a corresponding apparatus with a printing press for printing onto printed sheets, as well as with a saddle stitcher for gathering and binding the printed sheets to form a printed product, wherein the apparatus comprises a database connected to a control unit. Based on the information received from the database, the printing press with the aid of an additional printing unit is capable of printing additional personalized data as well as an identification marking, in particular a barcode, onto printed sheets with a print image that is unchangeable per se, thereby creating printed sheets which are at least in part individually printed.
In addition, conventional printed sheets that only contain a print image that itself is unchangeable are deposited in a manner known per se in the form of stacks in various feeders of the apparatus. In contrast, the at least partially individually printed sheets, which contain in addition to the unchangeable print image also personalized data and an identifying marking, are deposited in the form of several stacks in an intermediate store. A reading and recording device is arranged in that region for reading out and storing the identifying marking and thus the sequence of the printed sheets deposited in the intermediate store. The identifying marking on the sheets transported from the intermediate store to the saddle stitcher is again read out by another reading and evaluating device, arranged along the transport route. The sequence of the printed sheets supplied to the saddle stitcher can be compared to the corresponding sequence stored in the reading and recording device for the printed sheets deposited in the intermediate store. The evaluation ensures that the conventionally printed sheets located in the feeders are only gathered and combined with the at least partially individually printed sheet belonging to the same personalized printed product. For the selective gathering of the conventionally printed sheets, the control unit uses corresponding information received from the database. By combining printed sheets already at least partially individually printed by a printing press with other, not individually printed sheets, or with sheets that are individually printed further in the saddle stitcher, this method and the corresponding apparatus can be used to produce large editions of personalized printed products and can be provided with the corresponding mailing addresses on the basis of the information available in the database. The separate sheets of each of these personalized printed products are stitched together with wire staples in the stitching machine of the saddle stitcher. Following this, the printed products are trimmed on three sides in a trimming station and are finally combined into packets ready for the shipping in a downstream arranged stacking station and/or cross-stacker.
However, a constant data link must be ensured between the control unit and the database for producing personalized printed products in this way. Data links of this type require a company-internal or even a cross-company data network which does not exist or not in a suitable manner for many companies offering such services or not in numerous parts of the world. Networks of this type are furthermore subject to interference, so that a sufficient operational safety cannot be ensured constantly. Finally, to ensure that printed sheets belonging to the same printed product are gathered requires a relatively involved method and a corresponding apparatus with additional devices for printing on the identifying marking, as well as the corresponding reading devices in the printing press and in the saddle stitcher.
German patent document DE102015213328 A1 discloses a method for producing smaller piece numbers of successively following, different printed products. With this method, a wound up and hitherto not printed on material web is first unwound and individually printed on with the aid of a digital printing unit, wherein an identifying marking is applied on each sheet segment of the material web. Immediately following that or following the intermediate storage and renewed unwinding of the printed-on material web provided with the identifying marking, the identifying marking is read out in a reading device and is used for activating a cross cutter for cutting off the individual sheet segments from the print material web, as well for activating downstream-arranged devices, e.g. a stitching and folding unit for the further processing of the sheet segments.
With a method and device of this type, however, only printed sheets from the same print material web can be processed into personalized printed products. A combining of printed sheets not stemming from this print material web and supplied in a different manner is not planned.